Gensokyo no Mokuden
by Fujiwara no Mokuren
Summary: -* DISCONTINUED *- I'm not too satisfied with how things turned out. I'll do it over from scratch, promised. I'm updating the missing chapters and leaving this for reference, but there'll be nothing else past chapter 11
1. Part 1 Rifts and gaps

The wind swept down the warm, early spring plains, clearing the path and bringing the delicate scent of life to the whole countryside; circled by tall grass, the old trees were starting to blossom, providing shade to the weary travelers.

As the weary traveler stopped, he paused not to search shelter from the pleasant sun, but to stop and check his surroundings with an almost sleepy expression.

"Great", he said, "Now where the fuck am I?".

With a sigh, he kept walking; dragging a road sign with him, a kind of strange, yellow danger sign with a black man wearing a pyramid on his head and wielding some sort of giant cleaver. "I should have figured there was something wrong the moment the mist stopped hiding the horizon, or the sun for that matter", spoke the weary traveler, that for luck or ill had this habit of talking to himself, "Still, if I grazed Silent Hill, I can't be too far off... I mean, if I stumbled to Raccoon City, that'd be serious, since it's the opposite direction". He stopped again, looking around... No trace of mist of any kind.

"I'm so not home", he realized, "If I was home, the grass would be darker, there'd be ditches, with giant were-rats and ninja bats with guitars, and enough mist to hide the sky"; quite clearly, wherever he was, there weren't ditches, there weren't were-rats and there weren't ninja bats with guitars. Sparrows were very common, as well as magpies and the occasional raven, but definitely no rats.

"Can't be too bad, thought", he stated while not so sure of himself, "If I keep following this path, I guess I'll eventually get somewhere".

Dusk fell, and our weary traveler was sprawled down on the path, disheartened like an italian after the second game of Six Nations' Rugby championships, his trusty road sign by his side still in his grip thought. _Shit, I'm not getting anywhere_, he thought, _and it's getting late. And I'm hungry, and my cell phone is dead, and I need a shower_; surprising himself with how bad things could get if only he tried to see the negative aspects, he was sort of re-heartened when, as the sun was starting to fall, he could see a light in the distance. Civilization? Maybe?

"Well, maybe I'm not toast then", and he got up, dusting his clothes.

For a person who lives between Silent Hill and Raccoon City, and who has the habit of taking road signs with him, one would expect him to have some sort of danger sense to keep him alive. In fact, he did notice something was odd, sounding very odd; he was very used to the countryside sounds at night, but... "The Higurashi are Nakuing like motherfuckers", he clearly stated in an overly tense tone, "This can't be good".

"Oh, so you're alive", said the girl that has been at his side, poking him with a pointy stick for over twenty minutes.

Noticing her presence just now (and discovering his side was aching, as if he has been poked with a pointy stick for over twenty minutes), the weary traveler found a young tomboy with a fancy shirt and baggy pants, whose eyes and hair were between teal and blue, and who had something that could only be antennae on her head.

_Where did I see her already?_ He pondered, while figuring out something to say, "Yeah, I'm more alive than I look".

"It's so bold for you to ignore the insect life around you, I wonder if you are tough enough to back up for that spirit?", not only she looked tomboyish, but she was pretty confident too, maybe a bit of a bully, or maybe actually dangerous, if only our weary traveler had some kind of danger sense and wasn't such a sucker for cute faces, so the only thing he could think was _Well, she's cute, at least_.

"Hunger makes people bold, and also carefree, so unless you have some food to offer me, I'll have to execuse myself", _damn it, I get the felling it's very important... Where did I see her already?_

"I don't have food to offer unless you want to eat yourself", she replied with a smirk, "I _have_ found my dinner".

_Dinner_, he thought, _me dinner_, then he added _insects_, _tomboy_ and _clearly not home_ elements together. Still didn't get it. "You don't eat people raw, and its laughable to see an insect light a fire, the only thing you could safely light is a mosquito repellent"

"I'm a _firefly_ damn it!", she looked pretty pissed and ready to pick a fight; while our traveler had about the physical strength of a girl, he was confident he could knock such a brat out cold if he had to, unless...

"Oh, just what I needed, won't you mind shedding some light and guiding me to some resemblance of civilization? I promise I'll share some bread crumbs with you. Or whatever else fireflies eat".

Oooh, that's it, now she was angry, "That's it, I'm going to kill you dead!", she said before jumping into the air and flying up, far beyond his reach. _Uh-oh_, he thought, readying his road sign, even if she was out of range anyways, _this looks bad... But somehow it feels good that I won the pre-combat banter_.

At that moment, enlightenment struck him, and just after it struck him, he noticed something else that was going terribly wrong, or terribly right.

"Ah... Uh...", he tried to say, "Behind you..."

"Ha! As if I could fall for it! Too late for mercy, now you die!"

"Ara, ara, this is not how you treat guests..."

The tomboy looked shocked to hear that voice behind her, and as a matter of fact, the moment she turned she looked more horrified than the weary traveler has ever seen in his entire life (that is, comparing to other people he saw with horrified expressions. Because, seriously, it was the first time he saw her. Really).

The voice belonged to... What could only be an astonishingly beautiful woman with curly long hair and a cute white and blue dress with a comfortable silk hat; she came out of... A rift in thin air, kept open by a pair of red ribbons; inside the rift, nothing euclidean geometry could explain.

"A... Yu... Y-yu... Yuka..."

"Ara, ara, you remember my name? How cute of you!", her eyes then set on the weary traveler, that while dumbfound, wasn't all that dumb, and immediately let go of that fighting stance of his (but not of the road sign), "So this is our guest, eh?"

"Uh... Yes", he said, scratching his head and feeling dumb for such a stupid answer, "Uh... Thanks for saving me, or delaying her dinner. Unless you too dig in human meat?".

The firefly girl landed next to the traveler, as if her first priority was to get away from her, nevermind if her former opponent was at arm reach right now, "Yu... Yukari! This is unfair! He... I saw him first!".

Unfazed, the woman (Yukari?) instead looked down at the two as if she saw some sort of hidden potential... Wasted hidden potential judging from her expression, "Ara, ara... Wriggle, you insist in such tasteless choices in dressing?", she sighed, moving her eyes to the traveler, "And you too, our dear guest... We have a strict dressing code in Gensokyo, so it is better that you adapt to our customs"

"WHA?", Wriggle looked shocked, hugging herself as if she was afraid the other woman would rip her clothes apart (and a hidden, submerged part in the traveler's brain wanted that to happen, but it was quickly beaten senseless), "N-no way!". The traveler wasn't so quick to grasp the situation, he instead pondered on something Yukari said. _Gensokyo?_

The rush of air that followed almost knocked them both off their feet; figuring some sort of fight was about to break out, they both got back into fighting stances only to find themselves...

... In cute, girls' clothing, fancy gowns with wide skirts and embroideries; Wriggles' was light green with dark green embroideries, while the travelers' was red and black with golden embroideries, they somehow looked like they were made to match.

"Wha...", he said, unable to absorb all of the shock in one shot, why a girl's dress? And why such a fancy one, at that?

"Is this me...?" he heard the other girl wondering as she looked at herself. Couldn't blame her, she was awfully _cute_, as a matter of fact, and as she realized that and started to discover that side of herself, she seemed to have forgotten about insects, dinner and all the fuss about fighting.

"As I thought, my fashion sense can't be wrong", said Yukari, who was still there, floating in the middle of nothing, somehow having managed to change their clothes without moving, "These clothes really suit you; but I already knew Wriggle looked cuter like that, crossdressing does fit him".

The traveler could hear it; Wriggle's newly discovered girl side and heart, crashing like she just divided by zero. Tears sprung up to her eyes and she turned, running away at the cry of "But I _am_ a girl!!!!"

He looked at her, feeling pity for such wasted beauty and hurt feelings, then turned to face the other woman, as if he wanted to scold her, "That was pretty rough, cannibalistic half-insect girls have feelings too". Pause, "And I'm not a girl, by the way, I'm a man"

"Man? What are you talking about?", she giggled, but her initially dumbfound expression made him realize (not without shock) that she really didn't notice, "Anyways, welcome to Gensokyo weary traveler, and please be careful of youkais during your stay".

At a loss of words, trying to absorb too much that had happened too quickly, he nodded slowly and carefully, "Uh... Thank you, I guess. Yukari, is it?"

"The youkai of boundaries, Yukari Yakumo. May I know the name of our guest now?"

"Oh, it's Mokuren. I'm sorry but I don't have any fancy title to go with it... Yet"

"It has been nice to meet you Mokuren, please be careful of hungry youkai from now on. I have to leave on urgent business so please execuse me", and, still smiling like she was hiding something and enjoying every bit of it, she disappeared back in the gap she came from, which closed with her.

Moments passed, the wind swept, gently blowing below Mokuren's skirt and tickling his legs, it was starting to get cold, especially with that kind of clothing. Everything was clearer now, this didn't make it less crazy, but at least he had an idea of what was going on...

Better keep that road sign close and handy.

At which point he remembered about Wriggle. Wriggle Nightbug, oh so _that's_ the familiar face he thought he had seen already; he could hear her sobbing away, something he couldn't stand (and one of the main reasons he shouldn't ever be thrown in the world of anime, but go tell Yukari...); sighing, he proceeded to reach her.

As she heard him approaching, she stopped sobbing and took a deep breath, wiping her eyes quickly and trying not to be seen; ultimately useless, but also sort of granted, "Ah", Mokuren said, "I just wanted to see if you're fine".

"Of course I'm fine", she tried hard to make her voice not break, "I even decided I'm not hungry tonight. Be grateful I'm letting you go, human".

"Name's Mokuren", he answered, patting her on the shoulder, "And believe me, I share your pain".

While it was almost impossible for such a half-assed comforting from a complete stranger to work, the sheer honesty and weight of real pain in his words somehow reached her, and she even went as far as turning to face him, getting more proof that she wasn't alone in not having her gender identity recognized.

"Uh..." she said, as if between a loss of words and no desire to speak with anyone at all, "Well, thanks. I'm Wriggle, if you haven't figured. Humans are thickheads after all".

"Speaking of which... I'm lost and I have nowhere to go", he clasped his hands, a kind smile on his lips, "I'm sorry about earlier on... Can you please forgive me and at least point me towards some sort of civilization? I promise I will treat you to dinner once we get there".

"I don't want to, go find your own way".

"Please allow me to insist", he circled to knee in front of her, his hands still clasped in front of his nose, "I am also a half-decent amateur who left his recipe books at home good cook, and I'm sure a cute girl like you does not deserve to be left alone all the time. Please allow me to repair for my lack of respect to the insect life".

Wether for sheer luck, coincidence or having praised her well enough, Wriggle, for once, looked like she would do somebody a favor. A real one.

"... Fine. But only for this time, ok?".

In the skies of evening Gensokyo, a youkai was carrying a human that was carrying a road sign. Much to the advantage of their dignity (especially the road sign's, who had more than the other two combined), nobody saw them flying around.

It turned out that Mokuren's eagle eyes were pretty accurate even during night (which cut Wriggle's comments about him seeing things and being bird-eyed) and the light he saw was actually a light. From a building.

_Holy raptor jesus on a pogo stick_, he thought, _of all the places, this had to be the closest one?_

"Are you sure you want to stay here?", Wriggle questioned, feeling sort of uneasy, "There's a dangerous person that lives here".

"Well, as long as it's human, I may be able to fit in better. We humans tend to help each other in times of need".

"Doubt it. Good luck trying anyways, I'm letting you off here and getting back to the plains"

"Are you sure?", his feet touched the ground and he merrily used them to scuttle around and finally turn to look at Wriggle, "I haven't treated you to dinner yet, I'd feel guilty"

"Thanks, I'm not hungry, really", she eyed him almost suspiciously, then she scratched her head as if embarassed, "Well, I'm leaving".

"Very well. Farewell then, and feel free to come and call in this dinner I owe you whenever you feel like it", he smiled, "Thanks for everything, Wriggle".

She turned, and only the muffled sound of a "You're welcome" accompanied her takeoff as she disappeared in the night sky.

Mokuren sighed, then smiled in both satisfaction and accomplishments, _good, I'm in Gensokyo's relationship chart now. I'm no longer a nameless extra, I'm a PC now! I take more than one hit to kill!_

With this thought and the making of a new friend following him, he proudly and firmly walked the path down to the entrance of the Hakurei Shrine, knocking at the wood and paper doors.

No answer.

He blinked, knocked again, and got absolutely no answer again. "Mh, could she be outside?", he opened the door and peeked in, "Helloo? Anyone in here?". He stepped in, the very idea of entering a true shrine making him remember to take his shoes off at the entrance (much to his chagrin, said shoes were now unmistakeably girly); he then proceeded to carefully explore the house, not forgetting to kick in a "Helloo? Anyone? I'm coming in! Helloo?" every once in a while.

Minutes later, he was sitting under a kotatsu, alone.

"I guess she's out", he said to himself, resuming monologues now that he was, once again, alone. He sighed, wondering where she could be, leaving with the lights on like that; it probably wasn't wisest to stay in one's kitchen when she was out, but it was getting pretty cold outside, and the kotatsu was sooo warm and cuddly.

He eventually got tired of waiting, and very prone to getting bored as he was, he got up from the kotatsu and started exploring the kitchen. He wasn't an expert on Japanese-style furniture and cuisine, but he thought he had the ingredients to cook up something; the lack of recipe books was still crippling, but considering the ingredients weren't really suited for italian cuisine anyways, he thought he had to improvise something.

Yes, the idea that it wasn't wisest to stay in one's kitchen and using it _and_ eating her food when she was out, but by the time he was thinking about that, he was already tossing minced pork meat in the pan while rice was boiling in salt water.

When he had made enough and his bowl was already full, he sat down under the kotatsu and clasped his hands together, "Well, since Yukari told me to learn Gensokyo's customs, here we go: Itadakimasu!".

The split second later, he noticed he wasn't alone anymore.

"Hey Reimu, you got guests, ze"

_Oh, shi-_

He opened his eyes, Reimu Hakurei (aka Red&White, aka owner of this house and temple) was standing on the other side of the kotatsu, her arms crossed, her looks not pleased at all. At least Marisa (aka Black&White, aka friend of Reimu's and usually freeloader at her place) seemed to have taken it lightly.

"You better start explaining", Reimu was dead serious, and if Moku was about to get kicked by Wriggle, it didn't take a genius to guess what would happen if Reimu got really angry.

"Long story or short story?", Mokuren tried his best to keep a friendly expression, and found it surprisingly easy.

"Shortest you can".

And so, he told her.

Moments later, after much blinking, Mokuren was forced to wonder "Uh... Which part of "Yukari kidnapped me" you don't understand?".

"The part in which you're freeloading at my house while I'm not here instead of being captive"

"Oh", he said, "That part". He paused, "Well, it's because she kidnapped me from my home world and brought me in Gensokyo, she didn't really seem interested in keeping me as a pet", he stopped, knowing it would have never, ever been enough to satisfy her, she then proceeded to push the other two bowls of rice on, "But please, have a seat and eat, there is plenty for everyone".

"Hey, thanks ze", and Marisa was quickly by his side, helping herself to some tasty food, Reimu still wasn't pleased, of course.

"Marisa! For what we know this girl could be any kind of weirdo!". Girl? For the love of all that is holy _why everyone kept calling him a girl?_

"Relax Reimu, she can't be all that dangerous, and you know that Yukari is up to this kind of pranks anyways, ze", all this while she was eating like she's been starving for the last three days, "And I think she's honest about being an otherworlder, I don't know anyone that cooks rice like this".

Reimu sighed heavily, but she had already joined the other two at the kotatsu, "This doesn't make up for the fact she sneaked in my house at night while I was out", pause, "And how the heck were you brought up, learning to cook like this?".

"Ah, sorry, that's how we do it from where I come" _and you seem to like it, you ungrateful miko_, "And sorry about sneaking into your house, I was lost and homeless and there was nobody inside, so I had that bug youkai carry me here"

Reimu made a funny face at that part of the story, "Bug youkai? Are you sure you're human? What bug youkai?"

"I met an insect girl during that Eientei accident thing, but I don't remember much of her", Marisa seemed a bit challenged in remembering the details, but this didn't prevent her from opening the nearby pot and helping herself to more rice and minced meat, "What was her name anyways?"

"Wriggle Nightbug", Mokuren's memories were still pretty fresh, at least, "We became friends in odd circumstances regarding this Yukari", explaining further would have been just too difficult.

Both Marisa and Reimu shook their heads, "Can't remember any Wriggle person, ze".

"Anyways, why did you come here? Couldn't you have sought refuge somewhere else? This is a temple, not an inn, you know", Reimu sighed; while she was still quite pissed, at least a fully tummy made her less prone to killing people, maybe she also believed that Yukari story? _I hope so, because it's so damn true!_

"Well, I was lost, it was late night, a youkai tried to eat me... Sorry if I couldn't be picky", he sighed, "Also, I'm a boy".

Marisa laughed, "Hey Reimu, you've gotta be some kind of weirdness magnet, you got a freeloading girl who thinks she's a boy".

"An alien, directionally challenged and gender-confused girl freeloading at my house, since when I became a charity service?", Reimu sighed and slide down deeper into the kotatsu; for Mokuren's luck, she looked like she was used to having people freeloading at her house, "Anyways, you're new to Gensokyo and have already survived an encounter with a youkai, I must admit you're an interesting person", now she even seemed to be curious, "Did you fight her with that road sign you left outside?".

"I intended to", he honestly answered, "But we managed to resolve peacefully", he was even starting to lose the will to point out he was actually a man, since it didn't seem to work anyways. Funny how some things don't change no matter in which world you go to...

"Wow, she's tough, ze. Winning battles with words"

"Or she's stolen her precious thing, I guess she has a lot in common with you".

For some reason, Marisa turned blood red, then laughed, avoiding eye contact, "Ha ha ha! I don't know what you're talking about, ze, are you maybe jealous of my magic?"

"There's no way I would be", Reimu sighed again and noticed something was lacking. "You, stranger, do you have a name?".

"Mokuren"

"Well, Mokuren, make some tea please".

"Sure", he then got up and proceeded to make tea... Which was quite difficult, considering he wasn't used to tea leaves at all, or to tea in general. Luckily, Reimu was such a tea fangirl that she didn't bother as long as it was tea, and Marisa couldn't care less anyways.

So, the three were now sipping hot tea while sitting under a kotatsu, peacefully relaxing in a moment of perfect quiet, everyone far away from problems of any kind; even the intruder felt somehow in tune within the room, as if the two strangers were no longer strange and hostile, but friends of a long time ago.

"So, Reimu, are you goin' to keep that girl?"

"I don't know", she honestly answered, "What good can it do? It's a bother to have people around"

"It's not much, but I could cook, do chores and help with the temple", Mokuren intervened, "At least so that I can pay back for your kindness, I'd hate being in debt with you"

"Don't waste flattery on Red'n'Whitey, ze, she can't even understand it"

"Well...", Reimu pondered, "I guess a Mokuren wouldn't hurt for a change, we only have cherry trees here..."

"Now, that's the Reimu I know, ze!"

_And that's one bad pun, too_, Mokuren added with his thoughts, but well, moé slavery was far from the worse thing that could happen to him.

"So, Mokuren", Reimu said as if talking to an apprentice, "Tomorrow I'll teach you to wear a sarashi, I'll also lend you a chihaya until we visit Rinnosuke's and see if he has another. Then, you can begin with the chores, like cleaning, cooking, making tea, baking biscuits... Just leave all the spirit stuff to me"

"I gladly will", and he sighed... So, that must've been Gensokyospeak for YTMND.

You're The Miko Now, Dog.


	2. Part 2 how do i shot danmaku?

Mokuren just couldn't scoff that uneasy, unnatural feeling of being in a weird situation all of a sudden and not making heads and tails out of that. It has been a strange morning, after all, but luckily his "Adaptive learning" special quality kicked in, and he used routine tasks to attune himself to this strange world.

When he woke up in the morning to find himself not in his bed, he was pretty dumbfound, but sleepy enough to not care. Then he met Reimu, once again, remembered he was freeloading at her place and working as his personal moé slave, and everything made sense.

It actually didn't, but from Mokuren's point of view, it was perfectly viable.

"Reimu?", Mokuren looked fine in his chihaya, as if he was somehow used to crossdressing (just don't tell him) and was taking a break after having cleaned the northern part of the courtyard.

"Uh?", was Reimu's half-asleep answer; of course she didn't budge or help or anything, she just watched him work, and _took breaks_ during that.

"Is it really fine for an oni to be a miko?"

Clearly, he wasn't referring to himself, but rather to the noisy brat with the killer alcohol jug to which he gave the broom. She was proceeding to make the paving more mess than nature could ever dream of doing, and she was clearly an oni, unless the two horns were just for sport (nothing wrong with the balls and chains to the wrists, thought).

"No, it's not", the miko answered, with the uninterested tone she so masterfully used to kill topics and arguments before they could see the light, which left Moku wondering things like _so why don't you chase her or something?_

"Mocchan! Mocchan! I'm doing the cleaning!" the brat oni shouted, waving her hand frantically like a problem child trying to get attention; Mokuren timidly answered, not being half as good as Reimu to ignore people. _Mocchan?_

"Say Mocchan, you have to buy a Kouhaku right? I wanna come too, it's a while I don't see a real man!"

_You're talking with one, you dummy_, Mocchan sighed, there was no way telling her would do any good anyways, "Of course you can come, Suika", he kindly answered, "But we'll have to walk. I cannot fly".

This revelation must have shocked the oni, for she turned to Reimu, gawking for explainations.

"She can't fly", she simply stated, "She can't fire danmaku either, so it's fine if you go with her, as long as you protect her from the youkai; she still owes me, it'd be a bother if she got eaten".

"I would be less of a bother if you could teach me. I could go fix the roof without having to look for the ladder, for example" _and thanks for clearly stating you consider me a bother_ he added, but he didn't really expect anything different from her, he _was_ freeloading at her place, after all.

"Teach?", Suika looked more confused than ever, "You can _teach_ someone to do that?"

Reimu shrugged, completely immersed into her own, personal world made of bliss and relax, "Teaching is a bother, ask Marisa, she's the one into that kind of stuff".

"I certainly will"

Reimu gave him a glance, as if something struck her curiosity, "Did I say something funny?"

"Not at all", despite his best efforts, he couldn't hide that smile, "It's just, it almost looked like you actually cared for this delusional girl freeloading at your house"

"Of course", she answered unfazed, "I'm a good girl, you know".

Moku rose to his feet, quickly followed by Suika, "Are we going, Mocchan?"

"Yes", he turned to Reimu, "Well, if Suika's guiding me, I can come back in time to prepare lunch"

"Fine, fine", and the miko just sipped her still warm tea. _Well, Reimu's Reimu, I guess_, and the assistant miko set forth to buy clothes, guided by his trusty oni assistant miko.

Walking amongst untamed nature was not new to Mokuren, but the long way on foot was particularly pleasant and relaxing, "I wonder what my friends are thinking, with me disappearing and all" he thought out loud, forgetting he wasn't alone.

"Oh, yeah, you come from another world don't you?", Suika was coming with him, but it was almost like he was escorting her somewhere rather than the other way around, at least her habit of running around when walking would have fit just fine didn't help giving her a serious look. Not that she could have one anyways, "How's life there?"

"Boring", he answered before his brain could kick in and give something more decent, "Well... In truth, I guess it's just pretty different, it's tough to explain"

"Ooooh", she was digging into it, but Moku got the feeling she'd dig into just anything, "So you're going to stay here? It'd be so _cool_ if we could make the red'n'white trio at the shrine!"

_As if Reimu wouldn't kill us both for just thinking about it_, "Well, I don't know. I'm not really a miko, I'm just helping out because I'm freeloading at Reimu's"

"Don't worry! I'm not a real miko either!", she looked proud of it, "I just come to the shrine to play when I'm bored!", she looked proud of this, too.

The weird but in-the-end pleasant conversation lightened the travel, and the path widened until it revealed a town; a Meiji-era town, except there wasn't any trace of westerners, even thought westerner contamination was already present, mostly in clothing styles.

Mokuren was surprised, in a way; the city was full of what could only be extras, nameless NPCs, random no-threat mooks, but most importantly they were all ordinary human beings. _Holy yodeling jesus on a rally car_, he thought, _I can't believe there's ordinary people in Gensokyo!_

Being Gensokyo dwellers, he expected them to be used to weird stuff. As a matter of fact, they didn't look _too_ shocked to see an alien crossdressing miko and an oni loli miko strutting around, most inhabitants simply kept a safe distance, meaning the two had more or less the whole road free, wherever they went.

"So... Rinnosuke's shop is in town?", Mokuren eyed the locals, trying to look as friendly and innocuous as possible; the two evidently weren't a common sight even for them, some of the kids were blatantly pointing at them and asking weird questions at their parents, mostly in the "who are they?" area. They were promptly shushed at every turn.

"Nay, nay", Suika answered, "We stopped by 'cause I'm out of booze, the Kourindou is actually outside".

_Ah_, he thought, _you could've said that, you know_. He sighed and patiently escorted the small oni to a liquor shop, where she filled up with something that was probably sake, and probably something much worse at the same time. Meanwhile, Moku's sharp ears picked up bits of whispered conversation from people that thought he couldn't hear them; they were mostly innocent, but things like "Did you see her already? She looks new", "Yes, she's not the same, and isn't the other an... Oni?", "Well, if she's with a shrine maiden, it's probably fine".

Of course, he also tried to be a friendly neighbor and greet people while he was waiting, receiving welcomes like "Good day miss shrine maiden", "Good day to you, miss shrine maiden", "Isn't the weather nice, miss shrine maiden?" and stuff.

It made him wonder yet again: how come people didn't notice? I mean, damn, it looked like his friends on the other world insisting he was a trap, it just didn't make sense! And how could Reimu not have noticed when she made him a sarashi?

Vague reminiscences drifted afloat from that morning...

" Wow, you're flatter than Marisa"

And then she moved on.

Moku sighed, and when he opened his eyes, an "I'm done!" brought him back to the present world. Suika looked happy, and looked like she had a taste of many "ingredients" from said shop while she was at it, at least judging from the smell of alcohol. But boy, she did look happy.

_Is this loli?_, he wondered, and having asked he already knew the answer.

Kourindou was out in the wilderness in the middle of nothing about just like anything else in Gensokyo, but compared to other places like the Hakurei Shrine, it wasn't too far from civilization, and it was in the same direction too, so the way back wouldn't have been too long.

"Kourindou", Moku repeated, "So, is this it?"

"Yup, shall we?"

He nodded, they couldn't possibly be wrong, even on the outside there were some weird things that looked just terribly out of place compared to the somewhat "ordinary" city. Rubber boats, professional fishing poles... And a large, wooden sign at the entrance, reading "A CHALLENGER APPEARS"

_Oh, true_, he thought, _I'm the only other male PC in Gensokyo_._ Except nobody realizes it_, he sighed, and entered.

"Welcome to Kourindou", hearing a male voice was somehow... Odd, which surprised Mokuren, was he already getting so used to live amongst women even thought he has been there for about just one day? Still, Rinnosuke was a rather handsome and refreshing man, unlike Mokuren's experience with the doujinshis depicting him as yet another random pervert. _Well, it's a good change, he's not too bad_, but stopped his train of thoughts after that, in the unlikely case somebody reading a fanfiction about him would (mistakenly) believe it was about to turn into yaoi.

"Oh, well, if it isn't Suika, long time no see", Rinnosuke obviously knew her, he probably knew everyone, Moku was sort of at a loss with him... A mostly unknown character, but supposedly harmless at least. "And... Who's this friend of yours, Suika?", he turned to smile at Mokuren, "Welcome to Kourindou miss shrine maiden, please make yourself at ease".

_Oh, fuck_, was his first thought, _this gender-distortion field I appear to be in works on men, too?_

"She's Mocchan, she's freeloading at Reimu's. And she thinks she's a man"

"Ah ah ah ah...", Mokuren laughed without passion, just as an execuse to drop into the conversation before it all got out of hand, "I'm sorry; my name is Mokuren, and I am a temporary assistant miko, guest of Reimu's".

"Reimu... Reimu Hakurei of the Hakurei shrine?", he nodded, his eyes scanning the "temporary assistant miko", "I see. If I may ask, are you two relatives? You look quite alike".

_Alike? Relatives? You fail, Rinnosuke, you fail at life_, "No, we are not... I never figured we looked alike", he smiled, trying to make it look as honest as possible, "I have come to look for a chihaya about my size, since this one is Reimu's".

"Well, help yourself Mokuren", he made a wide arcing gesture with his arm, "My shop holds the most varied and rare goods you will not find the likes off anywhere else in Gensokyo, please take your time".

Indeed, his shop was full of delicacies... Some of which could interest him as well. Fancy goth clothing, radios, Tvs, a price tag reading "599 U.S. dollars", Sword replicas, real swords (WTF?) and... Ah! Here was a chiha-

... WTF?

"If you need to try it on, you can use the changing room to your left", promptly came from behind him. Rinnosuke must have mistaken Mokuren's dumbfound stare with interest, probably because he couldn't see his face.

"... Suika? Does this still count as a chihaya?"

"I don't know", she pondered, "It's not red and white"

As a matter of fact, it was blue, black and white, but it looked exactly like a chihaya... Assuming miko were actually goths.

"You... Don't have other chihayas in the shop?"

"I'm afraid not, I have no interest in keeping common goods", he smiled, "I am sure a tailor in town could make you one, but it might take long, and Reimu might want you to give back the chihaya you are borrowing, after all".

He smiled. The bastard, he _wanted_ to see him with a goth chihaya. Well, it was unlikely that he kept exactly _one_ goth chihaya just in case a new miko came to town and needed one in exactly one day so she'd be forced to wear it... But still, he smiled like he planned it all along.

Eventually, he had to surrender to the obvious facts and go change. Funny, it fit him nice... Which made everything even more suspicious.

"Whoa, dark Mocchan!"

"It suits you fine", was Rinnosuke's apparently unfazed comment; of course, he was supposed to be pretty used to attractive women (not traps, but still, who is used to traps?), "I think Reimu will like it, too"

"Uh. I guess so", he looked up at Rinnosuke, then down at the folded chihaya (Reimu's), then back up at him. Now that he wondered, Rinnosuke was support cast, not PC, right? If so, this meant he couldn't fly or shoot danmaku... Or could he? "By the way, Rinnosuke..."

"Yes?"

"how do i shot danmaku?"

"lol i dunno"

_Damn_, well, at least he tried.

"On a side note, I do not know if I have something worth enough to give you in change. I have nothing of the local currency, and the currency I have will hardly be any useful in Gensokyo anyways"

"I do not have real interest in currency, my business lives on barter and exchange of other strange and rare goods, especially those coming from other worlds", he adjusted his glasses, looking straight at Mokuren, "I understand you come from out there, don't you? I am sure you will have something interesting".

"Well, I don't know if you can consider it interesting", he browsed through his pockets, pulling out his wallet and cell phone, "But I do have 23.51 euros and a cell phone, I don't know if they are worth enough".

They probably were thought, for Rinnosuke seemed very interested in his currency, "Mh, I have never seen this kind of money before".

"They're the present unified european currency", he explained, knowing he probably didn't make any sense to him anyways, "And this... Is just an old, stupid, useless cell phone, especially considering there's no signal here".

"They would both be new and welcomed additions to my shop", wow, he made Rinnosuke happy? How cool is that?

On the (somewhat shorter) way back, Suika resumed pestering Mokuren with an all huge measure of things he couldn't care less about, ranging from the so-called "oni culture" (which were mostly ramblings and brags about herself) to the so-called "festival culture" (which were mostly poorly accurate resumes of parties. Crazy parties at that).

"By the way Mocchan", she eventually said, "Why'd you pick that sword?"

Mokuren shrugged, "He said I could pick something else, and it intrigued me" _it's also about the only weapon I have some expertise with_ he mentally added. Not that it would have helped him much in a danmaku fight, but if Youmu could stunt her way with fencing, why couldn't he?

As promised, Mokuren was back at the Hakurei shrine in time to make lunch. Of course, they had guests.

"Wow, Reimu, we've got a black'n'bluey now, ze!"

"Where'd you get that funny chihaya?"

"It was the only one available at Kourindou's", he answered, handing Reimu her own, "Having one tailored for me would have taken too long"

"I guess so", Reimu stood up, leaving to put her chihaya back, "Feel free to use the kitchen, remember there's four of us"

"I'll take care of it right now", he smiled at Marisa trying to hide his _damn, Reimu, at least be subtle in enslaving me_ feelings, "Do you have any preference?"

"I'll leave it at you, ze, you were pretty good yesterday", she smiled back, giving him a thumbs up.

"Thank you", _get away from my precious thing! **get away**!_ "I'll make sure not to disappoint you".

And, moments later, they were all eating around a square table.

"_Pennette alle erbe con crema di radicchio_ and _Caprese_" he explained for the girls, unfamiliar with italian cuisine, "It'd be best with forks and knives, but it's nothing chopsticks can't do".

Of course, Suika had started since before Moku could even say what he cooked up, but Reimu and Marisa had the decency to wait before stuffing everything down their throats like there's no tomorrow.

"Where'd you get these ingredients, by the way?"

Reimu's question came largely ignored, for Mokuren had more pressing business, "Oh, by the way, Marisa, Reimu said you can teach me to fire danmaku"

"Teach you to fire danmaku?", Marisa seemed to ponder trivial things, like "why would you want to", "Why can't you already since you're a PC" and "Where else did you sink your points to _not_ take something as basic as Danmaku?", but in the end she answered with a simple "Sure, yes, I'll teach you, ze".

"Please finish cleaning the other half of the garden first", odd, Reimu didn't look as cheerful as Mokuren expected, maybe it was because of him? _I guess I'm still a total stranger to her, she's not like Marisa after all_.

"Sure thing. Suika, are you going to help?"

"Yes! I wanna see Mocchan learn to fight!"

And so, after lunch, the afterlunch rest/nap, a bit of work, tea break, more work (mostly to fix Suika's mess) and the proper 5 p.m. tea break, Mokuren was ready to take danmaku lessons.

"Laser", said Marisa, "Is not difficult, ze".

She even laid out a blackboard with the most important steps written down, it looked fancy and all, which meant Marisa was getting into it more than she should have.

"First, concentrate your mind!".

_Concentrate your mind_, the three (yes, Suika joined too, wonder why) were all in line, as if practicing some strange form of martial art, possibly one involving ridiculously slow breathing and sluggish motions. _Sounds pretty easy._

"Now, mutter the spell to the mini-Hakkero!!"

_Mutter the spell? What spell? To what mini-whatever?_

"Aim at someone you don't like..."

He felt it was time to stop and ask a question, but seeing how everyone was getting into it, Mokuren was feeling guilty already for having even just thought that. He aimed at someone he didn't like... That is, nothing in particular, right in front of him.

"Now unleash your annihilation of love!"

_Unleash your wha-_

The rush of air almost threw him off his feet, a bright light flashing straight to his eyes, and then he had to set his feet firmly to the ground to avoid being flung away from the sheer power of the spell; it was roaring in his ears as if he was right in the middle of it, except that he luckily wasn't.

When everything was over, he fell down sitting, blinking at Marisa with a befuddled expression, his hair all a mess, "See?", she said with a grin.

_Yeah_, he thought,_ Except I, like, didn't learn anything_.

"That was awesome" he instead answered, and he was sincerely honest about that, "But... I still don't have an idea of how to do it".

"Well, you can't learn anything in a day", she pointed a finger at him, "Practice daily, and one day you'll learn. Maybe".

He sighed, _as expected of Marisa, all she cared about was show off. Looks like I'm without a teacher again_.

"Marisa, I told you more than once not to fire a Master Spark in front of my shrine", Reimu's cold and dispassionate scolding was of course granted, along with the fact that Marisa couldn't care less.

"It's ok Reimu, there wasn't anyone anyways".

_Even if there was, I don't think there'd be any proof left now_. Kind of a dangerous world he ended into.

Eventually, both Suika and Marisa went back home, leaving Reimu and Mokuren alone. He, of course, was busy with cleaning dishes.

What surprised him was Reimu.

"We need to talk, Mokuren"

There was something strangely serious in her tone, did he piss her off at some point of the day? From the looks of her face, she was dead serious about something... Something not trivial.

"Uh... Sure"

"I decided to keep you for the night because you had nowhere else to go, I have watched you throughout the day. Mokuren, you are not the first human that has crossed the boundary to Gensokyo..."

"I see", he blinked, trying to guess where this was going.

"Ordinary humans either want to go back or stay; if they want to go back, Yukari and me will try to open a passage for them to return, if they want to stay they will be directed to the town, under the protection of Keine", she paused, looking at him straight in the eye, "It's not your subtle wish to stay that has surprised me thought.

"First of all, and assuming you aren't telling lies, Yukari has saved you from becoming food. She's a youkai herself, she'd have no reason to do that, and I don't remember her ever doing something like that. Secondly, even thought you met me, Marisa and Suika for the first time, you behaved as if you knew us already, you are a human from the outside world that easily accepts youkai and oni, strikes conversations with witches and, most suspicious of all, you seem more interested in learning danmaku than it would be healthy to".

She stopped, while she didn't look angry, it was clear that Mokuren's existance depended on wether Reimu would be satisfied or not from his answers. He knew that, while he had no danger sense, he could see that coming.

"Well, I'll try to answer in order...", he said, putting the dishwashing to a temporary halt, "As for Yukari saving me, I don't honestly know myself, she spoke of me being a "guest", I don't know if this is supposed to mean something, I do know I'm here because of her, but that's all. As for knowing you... Let's say I'm actually just very open-minded and ready to accept strange things", noticing this was even more suspicious, he cleared his throat and continued, "There are... Legends about a place called Gensokyo from my world. All I know comes from there, but until yesterday, I didn't believe it really existed

"As for the third thing, well, if half the things I know about Gensokyo are true, then I won't be able to get anywhere alive without danmaku"

Moments of eerie silence passed, stagnating in the somewhat cold air of Reimu's kitchen. The sun was almost completely down now, and it was becoming difficult to judge Reimu's expression under just starlight and lanternlight.

"As expected, you're not a common lost soul", she sighed, and somehow the situation appeared a lot less tense, "Gensokyo is not new to troubles, and all of them have started small. You are a potential problem, I just cannot figure what makes you such, and I also can't figure what your intentions have to do with that".

"I can assure you I have no ill intentions", he smiled, "And even if I had, you know I can't put up a danmaku fight, I just can't be dangerous".

"Yes. Well, ok, let's say you aren't a threat", she crossed her arms, looking up and down at him, looking for something to explain the situation, "This doesn't mean you can't be a pawn. You mentioned a bug youkai brought you here yesterday, did you befriend her?"

"More or less. I rolled high enough on my Trap Empathy check and turned her from Hostile to Indifferent; I can't say we're friends but at least she won't try to eat me again, maybe"

"Still, if Yukari didn't interrupt the fight, you'd be dead, because that youkai can fire danmaku and you don't"

"Exactly"

Reimu nodded, "In town, there is a person, Keine Kamishirasawa, which I mentioned earlier. She is dedicated to protecting humans, I'm sure she will give you shelter"

"Thanks, Reimu. But... I don't think that freeloading at her place instead of yours would make me feel less of a burden. Also, I don't really want to stay".

Reimu quirked her eyebrow, "Oh? So you don't want to stay, yet you want to learn danmaku instead of trying to find a way home?"

"I thought the two things were connected", he blinked, "You know, the part where the hero stranded in an alien world has to learn to fight the local big bads and earn their way to freedom?"

Reimu shook her head, "Yes, yes... Stop there, will you?", she sighed, "Look, tomorrow we'll go see Keine and hear what she thinks about this"

"Uh, I see", he paused, then looked at the dishes, "Well... I guess I'll prepare some dinner now"

"Nah, don't bother, I'll take turn this time".

He blinked. _OMG I BROKE REIMU!!!1!_ he thought, for there was no other logical explaination for her will to work; wasn't she supposed to be lazy?

"Oh", he said, then blinked again, then took a couple steps back, watching her like some sort of strange, shapeshifting beast that took Reimu's looks, "Well... Thanks"

"You're welcome", she paused, "And don't worry, I'm convinced you're not a bad person. I'm not blaming this situation on you".

Mokuren couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief; of course, knowing what to expect from Gensokyo didn't made him able to read minds. _But Reimu's Reimu, I guess_.

"Well, if you're cooking, I'm doing the laundry then"

"You just can't keep still, can you?"

"It helps me ponder", and he smiled. _I'm curious as to what Keine will have to say, tomorrow. Reimu was right, this situation is a bit odd, but good heavens I did need a holiday_. He even giggled at his own train of thoughts, not paying attention to the fact there was a washing machine and electric lights in a supposedly Meiji-era world.


	3. Part 3 Crouching Hakutaku, Hidden Hourai

In spite the sign in front of Hakurei shrine depicted an elderly man with a beard, a pointed hat and a staff, with the macro "You shall not pass!", somebody passed through.

Mokuren, who had just that morning found a way to strap that sword of his to his back, was staring pretty dumbfound at Reimu.

"Keine is a bit too far to go on foot, I don't want to waste all day to get there and walk back", she simply said, "So we'll fly there".

Mokuren stared at the turtle with a humanlike beard, "I... I see"

"But since you cannot fly, Genji will carry you"

"Pleased to meet you", the turtle's voice was the kind that could only belong to that sort of loving elderly persons; still, the idea of flying riding a giant turtle's back was... Funny.

"Oh... Nice to meet you too, mr. Genji"

This allowed Mokuren to taste the feeling of flying moderately free through the skies of Gensokyo. After getting used to _not_ looking down too much and learning that Genji was able to carry him safely enough to make him feel comfortable in spite of the reduced space, he found that the air felt nice up high, it was cool and refreshing.

"It feels great out this morning"

Reimu made a "hm" like sound in agreement, as she clearly had something else in her mind. _I guess she's still trying to make heads and tails out of this mess_, he thought, closing his eyes and deciding to just enjoy the trip, _Maybe I should stop being so selfish and try to help her out, she's been unbelievably kind to me, after all_.

With time, he realized that walking would have taken forever, but the flight was just fine and their trip was over well before he could get bored. The place they landed to was some kind of Meiji-era japanese village, like some kind of small world all of its own.

"Thanks for the trip, mr. Genji"

"My pleasure, youngster, my pleasure", the turtle then resumed walking like any ordinary giant turtle.

"I have to tell you in advance, Keine is not human, but you mustn't worry about that, she means no harm to ordinary humans"

_I knew that already_, Mokuren thought, but he simply nodded as not to get the situation more complicated than it was already.

It mustn't have been the first time the village people saw Reimu walking around, at least hearing the talk about the "Miss shrine maiden" gave him that impression; of course they weren't used to see _him_ around, and without fail everyone called him "The other shrine maiden".

If gender distortion field was a danmaku-blocking superpower, he'd be freaking untouchable.

The pair headed to one of the largest building, a two-stories wood and paper building with an iron gate and a large courtyard at the front; considering the amount of ordinary human children present and playing both in and around, it could only be a school.

Of course, once they were in, it was hard to miss her. Just look for the girl with a lunch box on her head.

Other than that, Mokuren was surprised to discover that, in spite he already expected her to be a kind and charming person, her soothing aura could be so powerful. The moment they entered her study, all other sounds and ruckus became distant, and the well-kept but somewhat shoddy building appeared respectfully venerable; the books, shelves and other furniture had an agreeable scent of better old times, as if they could keep all the positive feelings and blatantly ignore the physical effects of time.

"Ah, Reimu, long time no see", her gentle smile was effortlessly charming, she didn't even need to target him to make him feel like he always belonged there, "I see you brought a guest... My, she looks a lot like you. Are you two relatives?"

"No way", the two said in unison, "She is Mokuren; she's temporarily my assistant, and she's a guest in Gensokyo", Reimu continued.

"A guest in Gensokyo", Keine nodded; as expected, it wasn't the first time, "I see, so you intend to leave her here while you find a way to bring her back? It'll be troubling for her to assist you from here, thought"

"In fact, I'm not going to station her here", she took a chair and sat down, Moku followed along, "I am here because her case is a bit particular, and I think I might need your help"

She then proceeded to explain the odd circumstances of her arrival, Yukari's obvious involvement, Yukari's odd behavior on the topic, and Mokuren's knowledge and... Interests.

Keine was pondering carefully, but it was hard to tell if it was worry on her face or just some kind of curiosity; _up to now, the situation only looked strange, not really dangerous_, he thought, _as far as I know, I'm still a CR 0 creature here_._ Assuming we don't count human Extras, but do they ever?_

"Well then, Mokuren", Keine's smile wiped all of Mokuren's worries in one fell swoop, "You seem to be pretty informed about Gensokyo through the... Legends spread in your world. You said you need to learn danmaku? Well, you're the first guest to ever ask that, please understand it is a bit difficult"

"Worry not Keine, I am very patient"

Reimu nodded and rose from her chair, "I am sorry to interrupt so abruptly, but I'm trying to investigate the matter", she turned to Moku, "Mokuren, I'll send Genji to pick you up before dusk, you stay here and do whatever Keine tells you"

And Reimu left.

"Well, danmaku is very dangerous for ordinary humans, so this is not the most appropriate place for this kind of lesson", Keine stood up and offered another smile, "You don't mind if we go somewhere else, do you?"

"Absolutely not, please lead the way".

They left the village and stationed in a clearing far enough that no sound could come from civilization; apparently, danmaku could get noisy fast.

"Please execuse me if I'm a bit at a loss, but it's very difficult to explain danmaku", she started, "To most of Gensokyo's creatures, it is natural and needs not explaination; if we are to examine it from an academic point of view, we could say that danmaku are the ultimate expression of one's power in Gensokyo.

"Danmaku are all different from each other, ordinary fairies, ghosts and even youkai have pretty straightforward bullets that originate from their being supernatural creatures, more particular creatures have bullets and patterns that fit their style. Reimu fights with her amulets and the aid of her orbs, her friend Marisa is a powerful magician, there is even a person in the netherworld that combines her flawless swordsmanship with danmaku. The first thing you should do is find a way to express your power and skill".

Mokuren pondered carefully, _Well, I'm just an amateur at fencing, but I guess I could focus on that, for now. I'd love to cast spells too, but it's unlikely Marisa will ever lend something to me, let alone breaking in the Scarlet Mansion to "borrow" some..._

"Well, I do have this sword", which he unslinged from his back and laid in front of him, "And am a half-decent fighter; I think I'm best to focus with this for now"

"Very good. Now, the most tricky part is to actually pull out the power you have", she chuckled, "I'm sorry... There's little I can help you with about that. For what I know, human beings need some sort of pull or kickstart to develop powers; you would be best to find a magic item to draw power from before you start drawing from an inner reserve of yours. Still, I do not know where you could-"

She stopped, and they both turned as they felt an overwhelming presence surprisingly close. As a matter of fact, they weren't alone anymore; a young woman with long blue hair and red ribbons was watching them and her expression was between the surprised and the... Disappointed?

"Ah! Mokou!", Keine stood up, effortlessly pulling her charming smile on, "I didn't expect you today..."

"It's ok", the other girl's voice wasn't unpleasant, but sounded like it was blurted out without any care for the ears of the listeners, "I'll... Come back some other time, sorry to have disturbed you".

As she was starting to leave, Keine reached her, almost rushing to prevent her from escaping, "No, Mokou, it's fine, really!", she smiled, pointing at Mokuren, "She's just a human, Reimu asked me to teach her danmaku and..."

"Teach danmaku?", Mokou was between the surprised and the disgusted, "To a human? Only because she got her hands on a magic sword doesn't mean she has to get all cocky".

Mokuren blinked, "Magic sword?"

"Yeah, magic sword", Mokou repeated, "I think it is magical, because of the symbols and for having seen quite a few swords in my time".

"Well, Mokou, even if you don't feel like helping, you can stay anyways, it's really not a problem if-"

"Thanks, Keine", Mokou looked at Mokuren with... What? Jealousy? "I was just going to say hello anyways"

Keine was befuddled, looking between the just-as-befuddled Mokuren and the leaving Mokou. _Poor Mokou. Poor emo Mokou_, he thought, so he smiled to the hakutaku, "Maybe you should go after her"

"Ah! But..."

"Don't worry, there's no hurry for these lessons. Besides", he got up, sword in hand, "You told me there's little you can actually teach me, did you?".

He smiled, then she smiled back, "Thank you Mokuren. Are you really sure you're not a relative of Reimu's?"

Judging from Mokuren's face, the answer must have been "Fuck NO! In what motherfucking language do I have to say a FUCK NO?", which caused Keine to giggle, "Really thought, you may not be blood related, but you're very alike, it's like you're her spiritual sister".

This said, she left to recover the emo problem child Mokou, and Mokuren looked at his sword, thinking _magical, eh? Well, at least now I have something to start from..._

Left alone amongst the cherry trees, he focused on his sword, trying to... Feel something, or learn something, or whatever; _I spent at least 24 hours with this item, I should be able to attune with it, I guess I'm a heroic enough mortal by now. How much was it? 1 committed willpower?_

If swords could talk, this one would be saying "You're doing it wrong!". Mokuren eventually realized it, stopped trying to focus pointlessly on who knows what and started examining the symbols Mokou skillfully noticed.

They weren't in moonspeak, which was good, but they weren't in any other language he could understand anyways, _well, screw that_, he thought, and tried to find a way to blindly activate it. There was this large, oval, dark blue gem on the flat of the blade, just above the guard; it looked deep, as if there was an entire world of mystical energies inside, he tried to touch it and got a fuzzy, half-warm half-cold sensation through all his body_. Groovy!_ he thought, and he did it again and again, until he became used to the feeling, at the point he could stick his finger on the gem and keep feeling some sort of power flowing, without being disturbed by it.

_Very well, I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere_, he took a deep breath, letting the early spring air fill his lungs; he took a moment to focus on the peace and sounds of untamed nature, the light breeze filtering through his gihaya. Once all of this became part of his own mind, he adopted a long guard stance, tapping on the blue gem.

The feeling was different, it was as if thought he could feel spring itself if he focused enough; as he started his practice, he started losing track of time, becoming single-mindedly devoted to the purpose of awakening some sort of danmaku-enabling power inside him.

_It's spring_, he suddenly thought, and the idea heartened him, for some reason. Maybe he was focusing a bit too much? But he was so close to... Doing something. _Yes, it really is spring_ he thought again, and started suspecting this springjoy wasn't coming from him.

When he opened his eyes, it's like he came back from another dimension (or rather: came to an alien dimension from yet another alien one), everything was even more lively and there was something picking up... Wind? No, the breeze was still as light as ever, but...

"IT'S SPRIIIIING"

As if the burst of joy wasn't strong enough, blue and reddish globes scattered gleefully through the air, coming low enough to fly through the forest, making all the vegetation feel like it could gather twice as much spring essence as ever. Unfortunately, while these things didn't seem to hurt the landscape at all (quite the contrary), Mokuren felt that he somehow wasn't entitled to such a selective immunity. And these pretty fast bullet patterns were coming in his direction like a ceiling-tall library falling on him.

"OH SHI-", and only reacting on pure instinct allowed him to evade and firmly deflect three of these bullets to avoid direct contact, grazing against a couple others but taking no damage whatsoever. Once there, he had more or less a couple seconds to think the following:

1 - _Wow, my sword can deflect danmaku? Cool!_

_2 - Oh shit it's Lily White!_

Another barrage of bullets came in his direction (well, actually they were going _everywhere_, but he was more worried about those going towards him), the pattern this time was made of separate blocks of bullets in horizontal spread, he could've ducked behind some and... Had to slide through the others, because he couldn't surely jump that high.

His sword gave him an odd feedback, it vibrated with joyful energy, as if it absorbed the very essence behind these bullets, _Keine said danmaku are the ultimate expression of one's power, could Lily's danmaku be the result of this joy?_

They sure as hell were, but this didn't make them less dangerous; he quickly ducked below the first block and discovered there was no way he could fit through the second, _nevermind, my sword can block danmaku, after all!_

As his back hit a tree after some twenty meters of flight, he discovered that a direct block wasn't exactly the best idea since BBS feeds. As he landed flat on his face, too stunned to realize he somehow had his spine still intact, he heard something he wouldn't have liked to hear:

"IT'S SPRIIIIING"

This time the voice was much closer, maybe he had a chance? Without thinking of the consequences, he tapped into his inner reserve of all-or-nothing strength and dashed towards the source...

Only to realize Lily was not only beyond his range anyways, but she was going up, leaving an enveloping bullet pattern behind her.

_Oh, this is easy to dodge!_ he thought as he dived forward, counting on the vibe coming from his sword, which now was giving him some sort of sixth sense, enabling him to "feel" the bullets moving even when they were out of his field of vision. The vibe of spring was now so powerful he felt like he could start firing bullets on his own at any moment.

_Now eat this!_ he thought, just a moment before a grazing bullet hit his sword and made it fly off from his grasp. His sixth sense and vibe zeroed instantly.

"Oops", he said, looking back to see his sword still flying, just a moment before the rest of the bullet pattern smacked hard into him. _Hard_.

Lily White was, of course, more busy than not expressing her joy about spring and stuff, but she must have noticed that part of her poorly-expressed joy had hit something it shouldn't have hit.

She looked down, and noticed there was a goth miko sprawled face down to the ground with a strange sword a little off of her grasp. As if she suspected being the culprit, she quickly landed at the miko's side, "Are you ok?", she asked, but the only answer she received was some twitching from the otherwise unmoving body.

Feeling unsure on what to do and seeing there was absolutely nobody around her, Lily started to panic, her mind already imagining the first page of Bunbunmaru News: "Spring Fairy convicted of **Murder!**".

"Miss shrine maiden? Miss shrine maiden?? _Miss shrine maiden please get a grip!_"

"... ow"

To his own surprise, he discovered he was still alive; he couldn't see much, mostly because he was face down, and his whole body was aching like somebody threw a steamroller at him, and _then_ proceeded to kick his ass.

"Miss shrine maiden you're alive!", he then felt the fairy hugging him with such a joy of relief he feared she'd shoot danmaku again.

"... ow... air... lungs... can't... expand..."

"Ah! I'm sorry, miss shrine maiden!"

Lily White certainly didn't take any first aid class or course or whatever, for she wasn't supposed to move and drag the body of an injured person without knowing the damage, but what the hell, at least Mokuren was now resting in her lap instead of face-down into the cold ground. It also looked like he didn't have anything broken, _maybe her danmaku isn't really that harmful?_

"Ahahah...", she laughed out of embarass, without passion, "I'm sorry miss shrine maiden... When spring comes, I can't help but fly screaming "IT'S SPRIIIIIING!" and shoot danmaku... I usually never hit humans!"

"Don't worry...", his voice was still wavering a little, but he was recovering, "I'm fine, just a bit aching"

Lily let (yet another) sigh of relief, "I'm very sorry, miss shrine maiden... But by the way, I thought there was only one shrine maiden in Gensokyo"

"I'm her assistant", he quickly answered before she could come out with strange ideas about blood relationships, "Figure, I was trying to learn danmaku and got hit by some. Can't say I didn't learn anything"

To Lily, the idea of "learning danmaku" seemed okay for an apprentice shrine maiden, at least giving she didn't make any questions, except: "And how are you doing?"

"So far, it's a blunder", he sighed, "I'm sort of powerless without that sword, and I still can't use it very well".

"Please don't lose faith, miss shrine maiden!", Lily firmly clasped his hands, "Danmaku is easy. You have to feel the power of SPRING! flowing through you!"

_Thanks, but I felt enough of that on myself for today_, still, holding hands with a cute girl was something he didn't regret at all. He used his other hand to touch the sword, to check if he was still attuned.

This gave him a whole new meaning to the fairy's words.

He spent the rest of the day at Keine's house. Most of that time was spent trying to convince her that he was all right, that she didn't have to worry and that Mokou needed more help than he did; _guess this is the day for guilt trips_ he thought.

"... Still, it's surprising you're alive", Keine said with a half-smile.

"Well, they were a spring fairy's danmaku, it's not like they're supposed to kill people..."

"You're wrong, Mokuren", surprisingly, she was serious about that, which left him quite dumbfound, "Danmaku are harmful to human beings, you should be full of holes by now".

Eerie silence followed, _full of holes? So why am I..._

"I guess you have developed some power already, so it really _is _possible for humans to learn danmaku..."

_You mean you made me try but weren't sure yourself?_ "Oh... I'm on the good way, then?"

"Most likely yes. You already developed a barrier jacket"

_Barrier jacket?_ he thought, and then, somehow, the image of himself in a fancy magical girl dress came to his mind. He tried to rub it off with all his power.

"When you have power, you can use it to protect yourself, that is why Reimu and her friends can survive a danmaku fight even if they're not youkai. As a matter of fact, I think that the more one becomes powerful, the less human he gradually becomes", for a moment, it's a bit like she felt sorry for Mokuren, but that glimpse was quickly replaced by her usual smile, "Oh, please don't mind me... I'm talking nonsense"

_You're not_, he thought, _I'm sure Mokou knows this pretty well_

When Reimu was back, she had eyes that could kill with a glance; luckily, the news about Mokuren's progresses seemed to up her mood.

"Oh? You got into a danmaku fight already?"

"Not really a fight... Mostly an accident", _most like "I got my ass handed to me on a silver plate" actually_

Reimu nodded, "Good". _Wha? She's rooting for me? I thought she didn't approve of this idea..._ He blinked, something must have happened to her.

"Mokuren's a good student, there's nothing more I can teach him", Keine chuckled, knowing perfectly well she didn't teach him anything at all.

"I know Keine, looks like he somehow found his way to the cheat codes"

They all laughed... Figure, it was the first time he saw Reimu laugh.

"Oh! By the way, what happened to the spring fairy?"

"Ah... She said she had to keep spreading news of the spring's come, so I assured her I was fine and... Eventually Keine and Mokou returned"

"Mokou?", Reimu shot an inquiring glance at Keine, "Yes, she came to visit all of a sudden" the hakutaku explained.

"She basically spent all the way back laughing at me", Mokuren chuckled, "Still, it was good to see her in a good mood, she's much more agreeable like that"

"I'm surprised you find Mokou "agreeable", but considering you're some sort of Gensokyo Hijack element, I should stop being surprised at all when I'm around you"

"Did something happen, Reimu?", Keine wondered.

She sighed, "Yukari was nowhere to be found, her shikigami was away as well. That nekomata brat was rather uncooperative, but after asking nicely she said she didn't know anything, as expected. Marisa's visiting Mima and won't be there for a couple days. Unless you know something, Keine, I think we're back at square one"

Keine shook her head, "I'm sorry Reimu, I wish I could be of help"

"But you've been Keine, you've been", Mokuren patted her on the shoulder, "Thanks to you, I think I'm starting to learn how danmaku is supposed to work. I was _this_ close to being able to fire one myself" _except I've been pwnz0rd like a n00b_

"Well, thanks for taking care of my guest Keine, but I think we're better leave now", Reimu then turned, as if she was in a hurry, "Please get on Genji, Mokuren, it's getting dark already".

On their way back, Reimu was silent, but Moku could clearly feel she was deep in thought about something, something that had to do with him, of course.

"Are you suspecting foul play?", he eventually asked.

"Yukari's powerful as she is unpredictable, and this is never good news", she sighed, "She usually does her best to annoy me or try to sneak in my house, or in my clothes".

"That youkai pervert...", Moku shook his head.

"But this is the first time I hear of her pulling somebody in Gensokyo and then proceed to save her after intentionally leaving her at the mercy of youkais. I also don't think it's a coincidence if you were dropped closer to my shrine than the human village"

"Do you think she wanted me to meet you?"

"That's what I wanted to ask her. Surely, she somehow knew you'd be weirdo enough to refuse both just going home and staying in a town that doesn't belong to you", she sighed, looking at Mokuren, "You're such a bother, sometimes I wonder if you two are working together?"

"I can assure you I don't", he chuckled, "I would like to ask her some questions myself. On this matter, can I come too next time you visit her?"

Reimu nodded, "I'm glad you asked. Actually, I'm starting to feel that your desire to learn danmaku might be appropriate to the situation. Which makes things even stranger"

He tilted his head, giving Reimu an awkward look, "What do you mean?"

"Sometimes, people get stupid ideas in their heads, and there's no way to make them change them kindly. Sometimes, you need to become persuasive. This is when danmaku start flying"

He paused, he was afraid of where this was going to get.

"If we are to confront Yukari, it'll be because of you", she gave him a rather scary (but somehow funny) face, "And I don't want you to lay back and relax while we risk our necks for you; I'm expecting you to do your best to help, even if all you can do is flail uselessly at her direction".

"Uh... I see. I'll gladly do all I can to help", he smiled, "You think Mokou may need this kind of treatment too?"

"Mokou? Tsk", she shook her head, "Already gave her once, looks like she'll need a whole lifetime of these to become a decent person", she paused, then looked at Mokuren, smelling something strange, "... You're not thinking you can turn her into a good girl, are you?"

"Well..."

"Mokou is about as dangerous as Yukari; and last time we gave Yukari a lesson we were in three. If you value your life, please be careful of who you pick a fight with"

_Yeah, I guess EX stage bosses won't cut it for a beginner_. There was much wisdom in Reimu's words.

Once they were back to the shrine, she stopped in the front courtyard, crossing her arms and waiting for Mokuren to look at her and realize she had something to say.

"... Reimu?"

"Show me what you learned today".

She didn't sound that expectant, or pretentious, or eager, or even interested. Curious, she was curious to see what he might have learned in one day. _That's "nothing", dummy_.

"Uh... Well, I _almost_ learned to do something, but mostly, I guess I just learned I can survive a danmaku fight, assuming my opponent doesn't want to kill me".

"It's ok then, I don't want to kill you", a pair of large, ying-yang orbs appeared at her sides, "I just want to make sure that, when I'll need you to help me out, you'll be able to".

"Uh...", he really wanted to explain her that going from _Easy mode_ to _Lunatic mode_ in half a day wasn't the best idea since chocolate bars, but he had drawn his sword already, just in case she didn't want to listen, "Thanks, Reimu... But maybe I should first-"

And then, without warning, it started.

Ten seconds later, Mokuren was buried some ten centimeters into the ground, which cracked up to adapt to his form.

"Ah, amateurs are such a bother", Reimu sighed deeply, scratching her head, "Where's Marisa when I need her to teach boring stuff to people? Ah, nevermind. I'm making dinner tonight, Mokuren, you just cover that hole you've made".

Of course, he couldn't move or speak to agree or disagree or whatever, but deep in his aching mind he was thinking _Fuck you, Reimu, fuck you and your balls._


	4. Part 4 G for Gensokyo

He found her while he was cleaning the tentacled, non-euclidean mess that was the Hakurei Shrine's store room.

Her eyes were closed as if in a peaceful sleep, her soft face smooth as ever, as if time could not touch her beauty. Her silken green hair laid streaming against other useless junk, her outfit was as clean as new.

_So... Pretty..._

Then be blinked himself out of stupor, and his next question was _what's a girl doing in Reimu's storeroom?_

He decided that the most important thing was to drag her out of that mess. Fifteen minutes later, after much tugging and pushing, he managed to barely get her to the door.

"Holy cosplaying Jesus on an Otacon fair, she's heavy!", as a matter of fact, she was way too heavy to be a normal human. She wasn't even breathing, which made everything even more suspicious.

_I've seen this scene already_, he thought,_ there's something I should check, but I'm sure that if I get my hands anywhere near to her chest, Reimu's going to "casually" pass by and think I'm a pervert_.

The second later, he remembered about his Gender Distortion Field permanent effect, and started a full-body inspection.

"Aha!" he said after discovering something curious on the upper side of her back. "Let's see... Made in Japan, ISBN 200-5212-1739, recyclable material, Warning: nuclear reactor inside, report for periodical check to your closest Smart Brain retailer every 500 years, do not abandon carelessly into shrine storerooms".

Pause. Blinking ensued.

"I wonder if she still works?", and he started pressing random portions of her skin, looking for some kind of switch, hoping she wasn't some sort of special-series chobits with embarassing switch placements.

A subtle whirring sound came in response to one of the random spots he pressed, picking up as if all the systems inside her were coming back to life. She slowly opened her eyes, they were the same shade of green as her hair, they were a bit strange at first, they were clearly artificial (unlike the rest of her) from up close, but once they locked on him, it was more like a dream. A fanboy's dream.

Of course our hero, Mokuren, had a strong mecha musume fetish.

She stood up, then remained immobile for a second, then she tried to clean her maid's outfit free of all the dust; after such simple processes were done, she gave Mokuren a merry smile.

"Question. Are you my master?"

_Say yes, say yes, say yes!_ the fanboy inside him cried.

"Yes", he answered, _thanks man!_

"Very well, my new master. My name is Ruukoto, robot maid at your service", she made an elegant bow and put up a heartwarming smile, "I remember this to be a familiar place, is my previous master deceased?"

"Uh... No", _she must mean Reimu, did she have a robot maid? Why didn't she use it, then?_ "She's still alive, you can meet her if you want. Actually, I think you should".

"As you wish, my master. Feel free to command me".

_Must... Avoid... Nosebleed..._ he thought while bolstering his will to avoid losing blood for real, he really ought to talk to Reimu about this, especially the part where there was a nuclear reactor in the Hakurei Shrine.

"Oh, that Ruukoto", Reimu simply said when questioned, "I wanted her to help with the chores, but then I forgot about something and it was a bother to get her back online, so I just left her in the storeroom"

_How can you be so cold to such a cute girl?_, "Well... I agreed to be her master for the time being, if you don't mind me to"

"Oh, I don't mind. By the way...", she turned to Mokuren, interrupting her writing (calligraphy exercies? Was Reimu that much old-school miko?), "I think I came up with a way to speed your danmaku learning"

"Oh?", he blinked. Any shortcut was good, "What should I do?"

"Well, in short, there's two ways for human beings to acquire enough power to be on youkai level. The first is being a natural like me, which you obviously aren't. The second is dig you nose in magic all day long and steal what you can't acquire; and since we're going to face tough odds, you'll be needing to go heavy on cheat codes"

_Stealing precious things too, maybe? Sorry, that's too dangerous_, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, Marisa's away... But this is good since she probably wouldn't want to teach you if she was there", she nodded sagely, as if contemplating a well laid-out plan, "Well, you go in Marisa's house while she's not there and try to learn something out of her books and stuff"

Pause ensued; a spring breeze was moving dust and spreading leaves in the fresh air of silent embarass.

"So...", he asked, as if both wanting and fearing explaination, "I should barge in Marisa's house and steal her books?"

"Not steal, just read, you don't have to take them away. I think she wouldn't like it, anyways"

_She'll kill me, you dummy, you can't be serious_, but he actually knew she was, "Well... Thanks for the advice. I guess I can have Genji carry me since I don't know the way?"

"Sure, consider him your personal vehicle until you learn to fly on your own"

"Vehicle...", he sighed, "Well, thanks, Reimu", he then turned to Ruukoto, flashing a smile, "Shall we go, then?"

"Yes, master"

_Well_, he thought, _if I'm going to die, at least I'll die happy_.

Genji knew the way until the Forest of Magic, but not really which was Marisa's house. _Fine enough_, he thought, _it's not like it's going to be thriving with activity anyways_, he thought.

So, he landed in front of a fancy cottage, built like one of these beautiful country houses from renaissance romance movies, chirping of birds and many flowers included. As a matter of fact, there were flowers and they were also very well-kept; this should have rung an alarm in Mokuren's head, but it went absolutely unnoticed, like many alarms do in his head.

"So... This must be the place", he stared at the door, then glanced at Ruukoto. The maid could of course fly, Mokuren was probably the only idiot in Gensokyo that couldn't. Rinnosuke aside, but being at the same level as Rinnosuke wasn't really making him feel better.

"It would be most kind to knock first, master"

He nodded and knocked at the door. This way, if she was inside, she may not have master sparked him on sight. Maybe.

No answer came at first, but then the door timidly opened to reveal a cozy interior that warmed the heart, _So... Pretty... Wish I had a home like this_.

The one who opened the door, however, was about fourty centimeters tall and fluttering with small wings, she smiled adorably as she saw Mokuren, but said nothing.

_Wait_, he thought, _what is this? How did it get into Marisa's house?_

The fluttering girl motioned for Mokuren and Ruukoto to enter, going as far as pulling him by the sleeves. The inside was even cozier than it looked, it was clean, well-kept and colorful; it also had many dolls, some finished and some unfinished, and many pretty clothes. For dolls.

The... Doll that greeted them and pulled them in was wearing black, and it was quickly joined by another dressed in red with blond hair, both seemed pretty happy to have visitors, in spite they were completely unexpected and uninvited, _I don't like where this is going_, he thought as he smiled back to appear friendly, _whenever stranger girls are acting well and pretty in Gensokyo, it either means they plan to eat you or there's a big misunderstanding. In both cases, it's no good_.

When the flying dolls brought him in the living room, he knew he was toast. There was a young girl sleeping on a table, with a half-done doll gown just nearby; her blonde hair and her blue and white outfits were unmistakeable. And she sure as hell wasn't Marisa.

The two dolls motioned for him to approach her, the red one was pulling his sleeve while the black one was kicking the girl's head to wake her up. "Uh... I really don't think you should...", but it was too late, she was waking up already. He glanced at Ruukoto, looking for a sign of... Anything. Approval, disapproval, help... But she simply smiled and followed along, _of course, she's not a fully independent robot_, he figured. And why did these dolls want him to meet her anyways.

"Uhn...", she slowly blinked herself awake, still drowsy for the interrupted nap, she tried to focus her eyes on the newcomer, and noticed it was an unfamiliar shape. She then rubbed her eyes to get a better view and tried to look again.

"Ah... Hello", Mokuren said, giving his friendliest smile.

_Three, two, one..._

"AAAIEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!", the girl fell over her chair, pointing a shaky finger at Mokuren, "M-m-m-MEIMU!!"

"Ah ah ah ah...", he laughed passionlessly, "excuse me but wtf r u doin?"

She was trying hard to catch her breath, whatever she saw in him, it must've been damn scary, "M... You're not... Meimu...?", she didn't look so sure herself, "W-who are you? How did you get in?", she glanced at her dolls, which waved merrily at her, pointing at the intruder.

"Ah... I was looking for Marisa's house, but your dolls dragged me in for some reason", he smiled in embarass, "I'm sorry to have scared you... My name is Mokuren, I am a temporary assistant miko at the Hakurei Shrine", he bowed deeply, "Pleased to meet you".

She still looked rather shocked, but her breath was becoming regular, she took a handkerchief from her pocket to dry the corners of her mouth, "Oh... Mokuren? Assistant miko? Well, whatever", she sighed, then gave her dolls a stern look, "Shanghai, Hourai, what did you bring her in for? I don't like to be disturbed".

Absolutely ignoring the scolding, Shanghai decided to climb on Mokuren's head, and Hourai started pulling the girl's hand towards the miko, "Wha- Wait, no!", she said, pulling her hand away, but in the end sighing at her dolls' stubborness, "Well, I guess I can't blame you for this situation. Since you introduced yourself, I shall do the same", she took a deep breath and composed herself, "I am Alice Margatroid. Now please leave my house".

"Yes, sure", he nodded, "On a side note... I was actually looking for Marisa's house, but must have got the directions wrong. Could you help me out?"

"Of course, Marisa...", she paused, blinking, "... Marisa?", she paused, and must have seen something she didn't like in Mokuren's smile, for she crossed her arms and looked away, "... Marisa? Why should I tell you? If you can't get the directions right, you don't deserve to meet her anyways"

"Well...", he scratched his head, "Actually, Reimu never gave them to me, she just told me to go visit her", he turned to the robot maid, "Ruukoto, do you know the way to Marisa's house?"

"I do not remember the exact directions", she promptly answered, "My memory has slightly deteriorated after being abandoned in the storeroom from my former mistress"

_Good_, he then turned to Alice, _Well, at least she didn't eat me_, "Well, Alice, thanks for your comprehension... I'll be visiting Marisa now. Sorry for intruding".

"Yeah, yeah", she said sighing, but as soon as Mokuren was about to leave, she burst out with a "... Why are you looking for Marisa, anyways?"

"Oh", he smiled, "I'm trying to have her teach me danmaku"

Silence, long stares.

"... Come again?"

"I'm trying to learn danmaku. Reimu said that Marisa should probably teach me"

Silence, longer stares.

"... Are you human?"

"... Yes"

"... And you want to learn danmaku?"

"... Yes"

Pause. "Why?"

He opened his mouth as if to answer, but then closed it, taking some time to actually think, "Long story or short story?"

"Short one please"

"Yukari kidnapped me"

Shanghai was having one big world of fun in undoing and re-tying Mokuren's back ribbon, she seemed to really enjoy toying with his hair, Hourai was more worried about pulling her mistress' sleeve and somehow make her have a bit more human contact, which she evidently needed.

"... The not-long-but-somewhat-longer-than-this story?"

Mokuren nodded, "I come from the other side of the Hakurei border, Yukari is responsible for my being here; I would like to find a way to get back, but it seems Yukari is pulling a very odd prank and there might be troubles in getting her cooperate. Since I have to survive as long as I stay here and I am supposed to help in... Convincing her of my needs, I have to learn danmaku", he tried to stress the _have to_ part as much as he could, "It'd just be wrong if I were unable to fire danmaku while stranded in Gensokyo, I'm having enough problems with this little already, I risked getting eaten once and was almost blown into pieces very recently"

Alice tried to get a hold of her head as if the torrent of words could blow it away, "I see... You're the sort that just can't mind her own business, are you?", she sighed, "So, Reimu told you to ask Marisa", she paused, "Wait, you know both of them?"

Mokuren nodded.

"And you get to hang out with them, too?"

He nodded again.

"... But surely..."

"Marisa is such a good girl, too", he added, "She's a bit of a tomboy, but she's adorable when she has that roguish grin, I look so forward to spend more time with her".

A long pause ensued, _that's it_, he thought, _now she'll either kill me or stick close to prevent me from stealing her Marisa away_. Of course, he hoped for the latter.

"... Heh, as if you could understand Marisa so well", she chuckled as if there was something to brag about, "I've been with her longer than you, there's no way you know who the real Marisa is. I'm sure she has absolutely no interest in a weakling such as you; please save your time and give up already"

_Hah! Score!_ He thought with a devilish, inner grin, "Still, my determination is strong and my need is just as strong. I must have somebody to teach me, or I will learn myself, but I have to learn and have some sort of master. And Reimu is too lazy to"

"Marisa is not the teacher you are looking for"

"She's human, and she has learned her powers like I'm trying to. Everybody has to start from somewhere"

"Well, look for another one"

"The only other is Reimu, and she's a natural, she can't teach me"

It was clear she couldn't have budged him from his task, at which point she gave him a cold glare, "Very well then... But don't say I didn't warn you"

Comes out that Alice and Marisa didn't really live that far off from each other; of course Mokuren knew that black'n'whitey wasn't there, but he had to play dumb. Also, the situation was getting pretty merry, with Shanghai, Hourai and Ruukoto playing together while flying (and only after Ruukoto was given explicit permission; Mokuren still didn't get used to the fact she was a robot).

"It's a... Big doll you have"

"It's a robot", Mokuren explained, "It was Reimu's, but she neglected it and I became her master. I'm still getting used to the fact she won't do anything unless I tell her so..."

For a moment, Alice showed something that looked like empathy through her eyes, but it was quickly hidden, "Well, independent dolls are the peak of a puppeteer's skill, an amateur like you certainly cannot reach it, especially considering you still can't fire danmaku"

Mokuren nodded, "Yesterday I was pretty close, thought, but my sword got ganked away and... Well, I still can't access my inner power, so once I'm disarmed, I'm sort of toast"

"You shouldn't go tell your weak points around"

He chuckled, "Weak point? I got kicked by Lily White, let's be serious... You don't need to know my weak point to pwn me"

They landed, and of course Marisa's house was empty, and nobody answered their knocks.

"Well, duh, looks like she's out", was Mokuren's innocent comment.

"Tough luck", Alice sighed, and looked at Mokuren, "Well... Looks like your training will have to wait".

"Oh well, I'll try to wait for a while to see if she gets back", he drew his sword, he tapped on the gem, and was filled with that fuzzy sensation that fused with him; he didn't need to keep touching it to keep contact now, just grasping the hilt was enough, "May be a good time to see if I can get to fire something myself"

"Oh, please take your time".

So, Alice sat down near the entrance, the two dolls and the robot were becoming friends, and Mokuren was focusing, trying not to giggle at his devilish plan, _Alice x Marisa is my favorite couple_, he thought,_ I'm so thriving to see some yuri action... Oh boy, why isn't Marisa back already?_

In the end thought, he had to try focus, so he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The feelings were pretty different, the theme was "control" this time, he almost felt the strings of a puppeteer around himself and Alice. Upon further examination, he almost felt some faint, red strings actually connecting from them to their respective dolls; Alice's strings were stronger but also softer, while Mokuren had... Strange, glowing greenish strings that didn't even look physical.

There was also another link, a flickering golden string, between him and Alice; it was extremely unstable, as if not completely ready, and sometimes it changed color without warning, but it was there. _This has to mean something, is this how a newborn relationship looks?_

It was all peaceful in a way, the three artificial friends a growth of merry, colorful strings interlacing with each other. Strings, colorful strings.

He felt a slight wind picking up around him as he concentrated his mind and magical energies; the sword was helping him out much more than it previously did, he could now clearly feel the flow of magical energy, the same way he felt Lily's spring joy.

_Strings_, he thought, and tried to mix Lily's feelings with that. Streams resulted, and he focused on that.

_Streams_, he thought, and knew it couldn't cut it.

_Lazer_, he thought, since laser is not difficult.

He opened his eyes and noticed there was an actualy visual display of his own power; eerie blue and white lights were dancing lazily around him, as if recollecting against tough odds and only with the great aid of his sword; a fickle blue and black/red aura was flaming at his feet, it radiated no heat but created a vague circle around him.

_Moku-beeeeeeam!_ He mentally shouted while aiming for a safe spot up in the sky.

Four semi-ethereal blue and white streaks of energy darted across and around his sword, shotting out from the tip. _Control_, his sword let to him, and he focused on the energy beams, making them twirl and change direction; it was very tough, and eventually he lost control and they dissipated in the air.

"Oh. Homing lasers. Not bad for an amateur", said Alice, looking up from her book with as much of an unimpressed face as possible, "Still too slow and unaccurate to actually hit something".

"Well, considering it's the first time I can shoot something, I'm pretty satisfied already", and he indeed was satisfied. Now he could shoot Lily White down before she could knock him out again!

... Well, _except she's going to hit me a hundred times before I get these things close to her_, he realized.

So, he tried again, and a _Moku-beeeeeeeam!_ later, a more solid and compact energy beam shot from the tip of his blade, drawing a red and yellow straight line to the sky.

_Wow. Lazer is really not difficult_.

"Say, Meimu", _Meimu?_, "How come you live with Reimu?"

"Mh, long story", he wasn't losing his focus in spite he wasn't putting all his mind into it, it was getting easier by the moment, "I befriended a youkai and had her carry me there. It was the closest place from where I was"

"Did you meet Marisa there?"

"Yes", he smiled, "It's thanks to her if I'm not Reimu's food. Humans don't usually eat each other, but Reimu looked like she would that time".

"Oh", for some reason, Alice looked more relaxed from these news, _I won't steal her from you, don't worry, I hate to split couples_, he thought, as if mentally comforting her, _Besides, it's way more than a couple with Marisa, she keeps on stealing precious things everywhere_.

"I remember the first time she tried to give me a lesson", he chuckled, "I didn't even have this sword, so I couldn't summon any magic power at all. Yet she wanted me to do a master spark. I guess she was just trying to brag".

"Oh, there's no way you could ever do a master spark", she smiled, "Seeing the troubles you have with something as trivial as ordinary danmaku. They're not even much of a barrage".

"I'm still trying to learn single shots well, I can't fire dozens at a time yet".

So he kept practicing for a while, shooting single lasers, twin lasers, homing lasers, but being absolutely unable to shoot ordinary bullets, _I guess they're not that easy, I can only manage to focus and release for now, only thing that can come out is a laser. But hey, it's one hell of a progress_.

Maybe he could stand a chance against Cirno now?

Eventually, thought, a witch flying on a broom landed in the proximity; or rather, right in front of her house. "Yo, Meimu!", she promptly said. _Why Meimu? Why did she start doing so just now, too?_

"Ah! Marisa!", Alice promptly stood up to her feet, her dolls following, "I... Er..."

"Oh, if it's not Alice, what are you doing here?", she smiled that roguish smile that said _who cares, I'm so cool I can handle anything at any time_, "What are you both doing here, anyways?"

"Reimu said to ask you to teach me danmaku", he paused, "Well, I was supposed to barge in your house and borrow books, but I thought it would've been nicer to wait for you"

"Why, why, good Meimu! You're so clever!", and she patted him on the head.

Alice, of course, was as red as red could ever be perceived by the human retin. A bit more red and the human eyes couldn't have seen her anymore, "Hey, thanks Mari", he answered, unintentionally tipping Alice's berserk gauge higher.

"W-Well, since I have things to do, I'll be leaving!", Alice snap closed her book and turned to leave, "Huh? Going already?" asked Marisa, not feeling the hunch.

_Ouch, no! I have to repair!_ "Well, Alice, things are becoming interesting only just now, could you please stay a little bit longer? It'd be a pity if you left now that Marisa came..."

"I-I didn't come to see her! I... I just showed you the way", she nodded as if to convince herself, "Yes, that's it". The two dolls looked at each other and sighed.

"Yeah, do you want to test Meimu's progresses? I'm not bad as a teacher, but you can give it a try if you want", Marisa's words couldn't have been any charming at all, but her face and smile... Oh boy, here's the heartstealer witch.

"Uh... N-no", Alice crossed her arms, "She's just an amateur, my precious skills would be wasted on the likes of her".

"Well, I'm ready for a bit of test", Meimu Mokuren let a couple, skilled practice swings with his sword, and then set it towards Marisa with a friendly smile, "Just remember I just learned to shoot, I still can't fly and all, so try to go easy on m-"

"MASTER SPARK!!!"

When both the flash and the boom dissipated, Mokuren was standing at the beginning of a long line of turned earth and shattered trees; he was of course blackened like a bomb exploded in front of him. He was of course not moving at all, not able to move, and too shocked to realize he was supposed to fall on his back, barrier jacket or not.

"Ooops", said Marisa, as if the shadow of doubt crossed her mind for a moment, "Did I overdo it?"

Alice blinked, then looked at Marisa. Her mind was like an open book, it read: _Rival gone, proceed to objective_. "Well, she got the lesson she wanted, now mind if we go in? It's getting a bit cold outside..."

"Are you ok, master?", asked Ruukoto with a slight hint of worry in her voice, Alice's dolls too went to check on him, and even looked more worried than the robot maid.

"... cough... ", was his answer.

"Sure, let's go in, I'll make some tea", Marisa offered, "Meimu! You come in, too!".

This, Alice didn't like, but at least she got to enter before Meimu Mokuren did, and close the door behind herself.

"... Ruukoto?"

"Yes, master?"

"... Can you... Please... Clean me a bit?"

"Gladly, master"

As the ash and dust was getting blown off of him, he started to feel sensitivity come back to his body; _laser is motherfucking difficult_, he thought.


	5. Part 5 Forest of Magic by Night

In the end, Genji returned at the shrine without Meimu. Or Mokuren, whichever he/she is.

It was because of a sudden attack of "Sleepover at Marisa's" that must've struck everyone inside her house. Of course, being that Marisa didn't even have a guest room, they were all sleeping in the same one.

And while Ruukoto, Shanghai and Hourai were fine enough sleeping on the floor, none between Mokuren, Marisa and Alice wanted to. No problem, there was a pretty large bed anyways.

And this is how Mokuren got stuck in a bed with two other girls, three more in the same room, and absolutely no way he could close an eye. Especially because those girls talked in their sleep.

"Nnnmh... Reimu... I won't snore lose to you...", and she grasped Mokuren's hand firmly, more than before at least. Marisa was in the middle, and she was sprawled so much that she took almost half the bed herself; Alice was more cuddled (against Marisa) and while Mokuren tried to stay as close to the edge as possible, he was overlapping with Marisa's legs. That, and she grasped his hand at a certain point, and didn't let go.

_Can't sleep_, he thought, _can't sleep. They're too cute, and I get the feeling that if I fall asleep, I'll miss some hot sleepwalking yuri action_.

"Ah! Marisa!", was Alice's whispered shout in her sleep, "Don't... Take my precious thing away...", and she clinged closer to her, "... I wanna give it to you, myself..."

Mokuren stood up, _I'll get my coat..._

He didn't really have a coat, just his non-conventional chihaya, but somehow he didn't really feel cold outside when wearing it; and even if he did, his body temperature was high enough from the previous situation that he could've survived a snowstorm. He also didn't really have anywhere to go, just wanted to take a walk and relax until he got tired enough he could sleep until next morning even in that kind of situation. _It's not the first time I sleep with girls, damnit, I just need to get it together_.

Getting it together, however, was the most difficult thing since Java programming in Gensokyo, and the nights fell so fast it was almost as if darkness swallowed him.

_Wait, whatever happened to starlight?_ As a matter of fact, he should have been able to see something, but it looked like a globe of darkness swalloed him for real, he could barely see where he was going. Until he stopped, because it was a bit too strange.

"Yay! I found a miko-san!", came a childish voice, somewhere above, "Is this how they turn when the night falls and the full moon is in the sky?"

The image of a were-miko embedded itself in Mokuren's brain. It wasn't coming out.

"Uh, I'm like this even when the sun is up, you know", he answered, _boy, which is the piece of equipment that quadruples my random encounter chance? I better get rid of it, now_, "By the way, who are you? And why is it so dark?"

"Ah!", she came close enough that he could see her... It was a small girl, dressed in a plain black gown with a white shirt under that; her bright blond hair and red eyes spoiled the chamaleon effect of her dress, but she was still hard to spot from afar, "You're not bird-eyed like the other miko-san! You must be a better person"

"I definitely am", he drew his sword as pure reflex, _you can never be too sure around weird girls_, "You know the other miko?"

"Of course! Everyone does!", her smile was far from pure and innocent, but it did look good on her, and she was cute anyways. Well, at his fourth day in Gensokyo, Mokuren's Moe Overload Antibodies(tm) were probably pretty hardened anyways. "She is very strong, are you very strong too, miko-san?"

"Name's Mokuren, and let's say I'm learning", honest enough, "So, are you too wandering because you can't sleep?"

"No, I'm wandering because night is when I live", the unnatural darkness faded, he could now see her much more clearly, "And I also take a point in testing the strength of those I haven't met yet"

"Very well", he readied his sword, poising and pointing it at the child youkai, "I won't disappoint you".

_Crap, crap, crap_, he thought, _I still can't fly, I'm going to be pwned! Only chance I have is to hit before she can pull anything strange..._

"BEEEEEEEEEEAAAM!!!", suddenly, the girl fired a powerful red eye beam, lighting the forest in a whole creepier light.

_WTF?_ thought Mokuren, before aiming his own sword and going "BEEEEEEEEAAAM!!!".

The red and blue beams clashed against each other, sending off sparks and violent bursts of air and also lighting the forest like an 80s' disco in broad daylight, the sheer DBZ effect could have sent the two contestants flying away in opposite directions if they weren't each putting all their mights into the fray.

As if under implicit agreement, both beams faded at about the same time, the two were looking at each other, carefully studying their next move.

"Wow, you're really strong miko-san!", she looked happy, "You're a worthy apprentice of red'n'white"

"Well, thanks", _omg somebody just made me a compliment!_ "You're not bad either. May I know your name?"

"Sure!", she giggled, and yes, she still had her arms spread open like a cross, "I am Rumia, the youkai of darkness"

"Very well Rumia", he was a bit more relaxed now, but still felt it was a bad idea to let his guard down, "Shall we have another go at it?"

"Sure!", and they were both ready to give all they had this time.

"BEEEEEEEEEAAAAM!!!"

"BEEEEEEEEEAAAAM!!!"

The 80s' disco returned, but this time it was heavy on crack and determined to disco dance until the whole world fell down to hell to disco dance with the devil himself. Mokuren wasn't surprised to hear the ground cracking beneath his feet, he wasn't surprised to see the trees being _this_ close to being uprooted; _it's bad, thought, if I keep going like this, I'll run out of energy, and I'm pretty sure she has more than I do_, he eventually realized, _I better give all I have now before it's too late_. So, he hardened his grip on the sword and burst out his last bits of magical power.

"BEEEEEEEEEAAAAM!!!"

"BEEEEEEEEEAAA-chu!"

She sneezed, and he had a split-second to notice her beam, of course, fell apart, and he was going to hit her, hard._Crap!_ and he somehow tried to disrupt his own beam.

It split and streaked into four nonlinear and much slower beams, _homing lasers_ as Alice called them, and they erratically shoved past Rumia's figure, grazing her but clearly missing her hitbox.

_... That was a close one_, he thought as he let a sigh of relief, _but wait, why did I spare a hit anyways?_

"Wow, you're really very strong, Moku-oneesama!", the child giggled and drifted down closer to his level, "I'm beaten, you're stronger than my eye beam".

_Moku-oneesama? What is this shit?_ Was his first train of thoughts, but he felt his own feelings hurting beyond possibility and thus tried to not think about it, "Ah... I see. You're not bad either"

"Moku-oneesama, wanna play with me tonight?"

"Ah...", he scratched his head, "I'd love to, really... But I still can't fly" _because I figure she'd want to play in the skies, like any sane person in Gensokyo_.

"Eeeeh? You can't fly?", she blinked, considering such confession beyond believability, "That's bad, my Moku-oneesama can't can't fly!"

Ignoring her grammar, he tried to explain something in the lines of "Well, I'm still new to this, and somehow I haven't found a way to fly. I don't know what I'm missing, I just can't"

She seemed to think about it, and Mokuren could clearly hear the creaking and squeaking of old, unused gears being forced to spin in her head, until there was a "clack".

"I know!", she said, taking Mokuren by hand, "I know what you need!"

"Wha-"

And somehow, she pulled him along in the night sky.

"WHA?", he was flying. No, he wasn't really flying, he was just being carried, by hand, in the sky. At night. With a kid.

No good.

"Moku-oneesama, do you like flying?", he had experiences with the feelings of flight already, but he was sitting on the back of a giant turtle at that time, _and my life wasn't in the hands of a retarded youkai!_

"Eh... Well, yes, I do"

"Moku-oneesama, why do you want to fly?"

He blinked. _Wait, this question makes sense_, it struck him like a lightning for how incredibly strange it was, _actually, it's right on the spot. Wasn't she supposed to be a joke character?_

"Well... I'm not sure", he tried to answer, "I guess... I guess I want to fly because I need to"

"That's no good, Moku-oneesama!", she looked honestly worried, "You need a reason to fly!"

_A reason?_ He thought he had enough of a reason already. Being stranded in Gensokyo, having to learn danmaku and everything.

... Or not?

"Moku-oneesama, you're good at danmaku for being a human", _and you call that DBZ thing a danmaku?_ "So you must be able to fly, you just haven't found your heart to".

It was clearly a childish argument. Or not? He couldn't fly after all, in spite he had the power to fire and resist danmaku, so he really did miss something. Was that his reason to fly? _The kid must be right, why do I want to fly after all?_

He wasn't aware of the face he was making while thinking, but whatever it was, Rumia approved, "That's my Moku-oneesama!", and she released the grip.

Gravity was happy.

_WTF I'M FALLING!_ He was obviously thinking, but traces of _I still wonder what is my reason to fly_ were hanging in his brain cells. They were being overridden, but quietly resisting. That stupid kid, why'd she carry him up there and then let him go to splat on the ground like a rotten peach from a tree? And that was a bad image, by the way.

_I guess I just wanted to be able to do something for myself_ was his background thinking as that pesky girl called Gravity was gently asking him to come closer and closer, _I don't want to depend on Reimu, or Yukari, or Marisa. They've been very kind in letting me freeload and whatnot, I have to return something. Also, it's fucking fun, and I want to have this fucking fun while I can._

"Rumia, you DUMMY!", he shouted at her, "People _fall_ if you let them go! And if they _fall_ from this _high_ they _die_!"

"Kyuuuuun! Moku-oneesama flies!", and she hugged him like he really was some kind of big sister.

_Oh, true, I'm flying_, he realized. Somehow, he matched Rumia's speed too, as if he felt that some part of his reasoning on how to fly resonated with hers. _Well, now that I think of it, it's as if I unlocked something in myself thanks to that, but wasn't this the kind of not-mine feeling I tend to get when I wield my sword?_ Which instead was sheathed on his back.

"Now go, Moku-oneesama!", said Rumia climbing on his back, "Go! Fast!"

"Oh. Yeah...", he kept going, no faster than before, "Uh... How do I accelerate?"

Silence.

"... Do a barrel roll!"

She was recovering, she didn't feel as bad as she did before. Humiliated in front of a human, called a boy, _comforted_ by a human... Eesh, better forget about that.

She was the mistress of the plains, by night all of the bugs were in her power; she was the mistress of them all, she could roam the whole plains as her legitimate mistress, the night would have known to fear her again!

In the distance, however, lied the threat. She could hear their voices already:

"Moku-oneesama, over here!"

"Aren't we going a bit too far, Rumia?"

"It's ok! I am the legitimate mistress of the night! I can go wherever I want!"

It's quite clear that this wasn't her night.

The two flying figures came closer, she recognized Rumia's voice (that little brat!) and she thought she heard the other voice already, but where?

"Oh, let's stop by and ask, there's someone over there", he said.

As she saw the two approaching, her eyes widened. Fear, horrible fear, the kind that can only come after seeing something terribly wrong. "M-M-MEIMU!!!!" she screamed, almost tripping over herself.

"Oh? It's Wriggle", said Mokuren.

"Hi Wriggle!", said Rumia.

Wriggle said nothing.

The three just stared at each other for a long, embarassed moment; they were close enough that there couldn't be any doubts on each other's identity, but somehow the situation still looked odd.

"Well, what a coincidence. Hi Wriggle! Remember me?"

She blinked, Meimu was talking to her? Meimu even existed? And she met her already?

"Uh... Wriggle?"

"Moku-oneesama, what did you do to her?"

"Nothing, uh...", he blinked, looking at his own chihaya, "Oh, this? Ah ah ah... Long story. It's me, Mokuren; don't you remember?", he blinked again, "Yukari, road sign... You brought me at Reimu's place..."

It was him, the human that comforted her. And the human that looked good in girls' clothes, too. Oh, yes, they were the same person. "... Mokuren?"

"Ah, so you do remember", he smiled, "I'm glad to hear that. How have you been, Wriggle? I see you got back to your previous clothes"

She blushed, suddenly remembering what happened back then, "Of course I... I- I don't know what you're talking about!", she turned, "And why'd you bring that Rumia brat?"

"Moku-oneesama is my Moku-oneesama now!", _yes, thanks Rumia, now I know Wriggle thinks I'm an idiot. And a pervert._

"I'm trying to make friends. I'm doing pretty good so far", they landed, the fresh (actually pretty cold) early spring night breeze was blowing through the plains like the first day they met, _wait, does this mean she's some kind of Gensokyo childhood friend to me? I hope not, because that would mean only one thing..._

"Well... It's good you do", she was still blushing, looking sideways at him as if fought between rooting for him and playing tough girl, "Because... It'd be a bother if you were to sulk to me everytime. Really, I'm not here to babysit you, you know..."

_TSUNDERE!_ he realized, _pseudo-childhood friend and tsundere! I'm done for!_

"Don't worry Wriggle, I'm doing fine. Besides, it's good to hear from you too, it's bad not to check on friends every once in a while, he he he..." _what are you doing you **idiot**? You're not helping!_

"Ah... Uh...", she shook the blush away, "Well, what did you want anyways?"

"We came here to play!" said Rumia.

"... Here? To play?", Wriggle blinked, "Why here?"

Silence.

"Moku-oneesama can do barrel rolls!", Rumia gladly proclaimed.

"This... Doesn't answer", Wriggle sighed.

"Well", Mokuren felt like he had to intervene before things got to make even less sense than they were already, "It's not important since we're here already. So, Wriggle, what do you want to play?"

"Why would I want to play with you?"

"Because we're friends?", he smiled.

"Friends!", repeated Rumia.

"Friends!", repeated Mystia.

The breeze was blowing through the plains like the first time they met, but this time it was also carrying rolling balls of dry grass.

Everyone turned to look at the night sparrow girl, who in turn seemed delighted to have everyone's attention. "Hi!" she even said.

"Where'd you come out from?", asked Mokuren.

"Are you here to play too?", asked Rumia.

"Play? Yes!", Mystia gladly answered.

_Great, so this is how the (9) team works..._ he realized. Wriggle must have been thinking something very similar given the way they were looking at each other, but in the end he just shrugged and played along, "So, what are we going to play?"

"Let's eat the bug!"

"WHA-?"

"Ah ah ah... Humans don't eat bugs. Not cute ones at least"

"WHA-?"

"Let's do a barrel roll!"

In the end, they've been just killing time together for the whole night; Wriggle had a vast knowledge of the most curious (and luminous) bugs that lived in Gensokyo, Rumia was so good at talking nonsense and looking like a perfectly cute idiot that she was entertainment incarnate, and Mystia had the most wonderful and moving singing voice ever heard to human ears.

Mokuren himself didn't knew what he did to contribute, but it looked like "being Meimu" was more than enough reason for the girls. _It's good they think I'm good company, helps me get my relationship chart more intricate_.

He didn't really have an idea of how much time was flying past, but he did have an idea of how much fun he was having, looks like youkais weren't too bad once they weren't thinking about eating you. Also, looking up at the night sky, so full of stars, while sprawled down in a grassy plains with three cute girls at one's fingertips was priceless.

"It feels great out tonight", he said.

"Uh-uh, it sure does", Mystia inhaled deeply, releasing a contented sigh; she didn't even bother asking who he was, she was happy enough with accepting he was either Meimu or Moku-oneesama. Go, go (9) team and stuff.

"I guess I'll have to go back before it's dawn thought, I have a tough day tomorrow"

"But moku-oneesama, you'll come play again, won't you?"

"Yes", he smiled, "Yes, I certainly will"

He looked sideways at Wriggle, she looked sideways at him, and they just stared at each other for a while.

"... Just to make it clear", Mokuren felt he had to say, "I'm not crossdressing because I have a choice"

Wriggle just nodded, "Uh, yeah, figured that"

He let out a sigh of relief. Then he stopped. Then he looked at her again, "... Wait, you mean you know I'm a man?"

"Uh?", she looked confused, "Well, yes. You obviously don't look like one, but you are", she blinked, "... Or not?"

"Yes, yes, I am, just...", he paused, "You have no problem with it?"

Pause. "... No". She wasn't sure if this was the good answer.

Another pause. Longer.

The moment later, he glomped her like she was the perfect cosplay of Mikuru, or Mikan, or Osaka, or...

"THANK YOU!", he shouted out of pure joy, squeezing and snuggling like there was no tomorrow, "THANK YOU! THANK YOU!"

"Whoa! Moku-oneesama is getting me a sister in law!", Rumia smiled, "Kyuuuun! I have a bigger family now!"

"is this loli?", was Mystia's more straightforward question, but she was still smiling sheepishly. The bastard.

_Oh shit it's true!_ he realized and reared back from Wriggle... Who still looked pretty shocked. "Ah... Uh... Sorry, it's just that..."

"... Get... Off... ME!".

Whatever danmaku she shot, it sent him flying and landing heavily on his back. But his barrier jacket must have improved, because he could get up after that, "Ow... S-sorry", he chuckled, mostly out of embarass, _well, guess I deserved that_.

"Now we have to get you married!", Rumia's enthusiasm was harder to kill than Yuyuko in Lunatic mode, "But wait... We need a miko to marry you, but what if Moku-oneesama is a miko? Can she marry herself?"

"I-I'm not getting married to anyone!"

"Y-yeah... Girls, you're misunderstanding", he had to try something out before it was too late, "We're just... Very good friends".

"Forbidden relationship". The omnious tone in Mystia's words sent the temperature way below zero, Mokuren could feel the heavy red string of doom being forecefully tied around him and Wriggle by the laws of Anime Relationships and Misunderstandings 101, "A secret love between a human and a youkai... Uh uh uh... I wonder what will happen if people learn this?"

"T-there's no way that will happen... You're getting it wrong I say!", he was deep purple with shame, _but in the end, I like this people_, he thought, and smiled.

Far above in the night sky, while the four were talking and shouting and quarreling and having their great time, an unnoticed figure was taking note of everything. The camera was tight in her hands, but her eyes were lagging behind, shocked at the thought of what she has just witnessed; a little bit of blood was slowly trickling from her nose, dripping from her chin and to her white dress.

The morning later, Marisa and Alice were looking strange at the bed.

"... You hit her too hard, Marisa", said Alice.

Marisa was scratching her head, "Uh... She looked fine until we went to bed, ze", she stated, unable to tell what happened to the miko, "I guess she felt the aftereffects while sleeping?"

Mokuren was, of course, sprawled in bed, with the tired expression of one who didn't get any rest at all in the night and was starting to just about now; after seven failed attempts at waking him, the two started realizing there was no way to get him back on his feet.

"Well, it can't be helped. Ruukoto?"

"Yes, what can I do?"

"Please look after your mistress, ze"

"Yes, I will stay by her side until she wakes up"

"Thanks, ze!", she grinned and put her hat on, "So, Alice, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Ah... Uh... Anything's fine"

"Come on, ze!" and she patted her on the back, with energy and youthful enthusiasm, "I know what you like so why not blurt it out already?"

And their voices slowly faded as they went downstairs. But Mokuren couldn't hear them, he was in his dreams, taking a break from all the adventures he has had in the meantime.


End file.
